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| TSUNAMI RELIEF | ||
| YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
1. SCHOOL LUNCHES Many parents have lost their source of income, yet children going to school still need their daily lunch. We are providing this meal at a cost of 300 baht per child per month, or 2,400 baht for this school year. The school lunch program is already in action as of 12 January, 2005, benefiting hundreds of children in several villages. Ban Ta Maprao School is in Tambon Klong Pon in the Klong Tom district, Krabi province, where 90% of the children come from families that lost their livelihood, clothes, and school supplies. Though no one in the village died, the villagers lost their materials and do not have the income to buy food in order for their children to continue their schooling. The school lunch program is supplying lunches to 100% of the 200 students in Ban Ta Maprao and will continue to do so through the end of the school semester. 2. SCHOOL LUNCH FARM  School lunch program The school lunch program will be followed by a school lunch farm. Teachers, parents and students will work together to produce vegetables, and raise chicken and fish. Some of the produce will be used for lunch, and some will be sold to buy rice and to invest in the next round of crops and animals. PDA will also start up a Shoe Bank for the children who work in the farm, to which private donors and organizations around Thailand will be encouraged to donate new shoes. 3. EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT FUND This will pay for books, uniforms, transportation and other small, but necessary, incidental items. Primary school students will receive 6,000 Baht; secondary school students will receive 8,000 Baht. 4. YOUTH PSYCHOLOGICAL REHABILITATION AND EMPOWERMENT For the children who survived the tsunami, the major psychological issue is the loss of confidence. Not all the children in these communities lost loved ones; however, many experienced damage to their homes and a sudden disappearance of their parents' source of income. This brings about a major lack of confidence which must be restored now in order to ensure a strong future for them. |
 Communication through art Children and youth will be invited to psychological rehabilitation camps, as "campers", to receive psychological help and to join activities to allow them to express themselves and reduce depression, anxiety and uncertainties generated by the tsunami. Additionally, the camps will serve to prepare the "campers" for the future in which they will form an integral part of their communities' rebuilding efforts. Children from the North and Northeast of Thailand will be sent as "camp counselors"; these children will be select members of the Village Youth Government (see activity #10) who have shown the appropriate leadership and compassion necessary to guide the "campers". When the "campers" return to their village, they will form the core of the new Village Youth Government, which PDA is establishing in the target villages of southern Thailand as part of the overall tsunami relief program. Our goals for the week are that the children: 1. regain confidence about life 2. gain new aspirations 3. discover new skills and learn to face new challenges 4. forge new friendships with people from their surrounding communities as well as the children from northern Thailand are enlightened with a new understanding of humanity, with a progressive tolerance towards friendship with other cultures 5. VILLAGE YOUTH GOVERNMENT Youth aged 14 - 24 years will elect 8 representatives (equal number male and female) to form a Village Youth Government. This group will be given special training to manage relief and the future affairs of the village, including activities of this project. The Village Youth Government will be a permanent institution in all villages. It has been PDA's experience over the last five years that all former youth government participants, compulsorily "retiring" from the youth government at age 25, have all been elected to the local Tambon Administration Organization (TAO). The TAO is a legal entity which overseas approximately 12 villages or 9,000 people. Ten of our most promising current members, as well as some alumni, from the North and Northeast will go to the south to promote, train, and help implement the Village Youth Government system. |
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PDI is a 501(C)(3) organization based in the United States committed to eradicating poverty worldwide
